rabbit

The polenta is spread onto a large board with a mound of stew in the middle. People sit around the table, armed with forks, and tuck in – it’s a really sociable meal. 

Slow-cooked family stew with polenta

100 milliliters/3½fl oz olive oil

celery stalks, very finely diced

onion,

carrots, very finely diced

garlic cloves, finely chopped

meat

200 milliliters/7fl oz red wine

tbsp juniper berries

black peppercorns

sage leaves

tbsp rosemary needles

bay leaves

tsp nutmeg

tomato purée

salt and black pepper

tsp salt

quick-cook polenta

250 grams/9 ounces fontina cheese (or taleggio), freshly grated

grams/3½oz parmesan, freshly grated

unsalted butter

Either store-bought or wild rabbits will work with this recipe; if you use wild bunnies, I&#039;d suggest cottontails and snowshoe hares. The quality of the vinegar and garlic matter. I use sherry vinegar, and I urge you to use it if possible, but a good cider, white wine or even malt vinegar would be alternates. Home-grown garlic is best, as it will often be less harsh and have larger cloves than regular garlic, but any garlic will work. 

Braised Rabbit with Garlic

olive oil

large yellow onion, (sliced into 1/4" pieces from root to

garlic, (cloves whole but peeled)

Salt

sherry vinegar

bay leaf

Black pepper

peas

Heat the olive oil in a large, lidded pot like a Dutch oven or, if you have one, an earthenware pot. Brown the rabbit pieces well, salting them as you do. Remove them as they brown and set aside. When the rabbit is browned, add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until it begins to brown, about 8 to 10 minutes. Add the garlic cloves and cook another minute or two.

Nestle the rabbit back into the pot, sprinkle some salt over everything and add the vinegar and bay leaf. Pour in enough water to get about halfway up the sides of the rabbit. Cover the pot and cook slowly over low heat for about 2 hours.

When the rabbit is tender, add black pepper and mix in the peas. Serve with lots of crusty bread.

Spanish flavours spring to life in this classic paella which combines chicken and rabbit for a truly gourmet feast.

Basic paella valenciana

dried lima beans

1.25L (5 cups) Massel chicken style liquid stock

saffron

(about 500 grams) chicken thighs (with bone)

wild rabbit pieces or about 4 (400 grams) chicken lovely legs

Italian flat beans, topped, tailed, cut into 1.5cm lengths

brown onion, finely chopped

(2 cups) arborio rice

tsp ground smoked paprika (pimenton)

sea salt

This recipe, which was adapted from one Valerie Gurdal cooked in the 2013 running of the Westport Paella Contest in Westport, Massachusetts, and brought to The Times by John Willoughby, is classical in its use of rabbit, chorizo, Spanish ham and Calasparra rice. But its depths of flavors are increased exponentially by grilling the meats before adding them to the paella pan. Cooked over an open fire, the dish may be scary to contemplate, but it is not at all difficult to pull off.

Paella of the Land

bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs

rabbit,

Salt and pepper

chorizo

chicken broth

(about 2 3/4 cups) dry white wine

saffron threads,

garlic, chopped

jamón serrano, roughly chopped

short-grained

medium-size ripe tomatoes, grated, skin discarded

green peas (optional)

Piquillo pimento, sliced into strips for garnish (optional)

Build a medium-hot fire in your grill (when ready, you can hold your hand about 6 inches above the grill for only 2 or 3 seconds).

Season the chicken thighs and rabbit liberally with salt and pepper. Put the thighs, then the rabbit, then the chorizo (if using fresh) on the grill and sear well without cooking through, about 3 to 4 minutes per side for each. (If using dried chorizo, simply slice into chunks and add in step 5.) As each is seared, remove from the grill and set aside. As soon as the chorizo is cool enough, slice it diagonally into bite-size chunks.

Meanwhile, combine the chicken broth, wine and saffron in a medium saucepan, bring just to a simmer, then set on the side of the grill to keep warm.

Place a large paella pan on the grill, add the olive oil and heat until hot but not smoking. Add the onion and cook, stirring frequently, until translucent, about 3 minutes, adjusting the pan on the heat as needed to prevent burning. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, for 1 minute, then add the jamón and cook, stirring, until it is just heated through, about 3 or 4 minutes.

Add the rice and stir until well coated, then add the tomatoes and smooth out the rice to an even thickness. Slowly and without stirring, add enough of the broth mixture to leave just a thin layer of broth above the rice, then tuck the chicken, rabbit and chorizo pieces into the rice. Simmer slowly, moving the pan around on the fire as needed to keep the simmer going; avoid boiling. Gently add small amounts of liquid as needed so it’s not totally dry. When the rice is creamy and just al dente and the chicken, rabbit and chorizo are cooked through (should take 20 to 35 minutes), remove pan from heat and stir in the peas, if using. If using pimento strips, place on top.

Rabbit loins served with a classic combination.

Rabbit and mustard sauce with buttered leeks

rabbit loins

rashers streaky bacon

tbsp mash potato

mustard

vegetable oil

thyme

garlic (peeled and sliced)

leek (sliced)

butter

salt and pepper

shallot (thinly sliced)

ml white wine

200 ml double cream

100 ml chicken stock

Arrange the rabbit loins on the bacon rashers and smear with mashed potato. Roll up into a sausage shape using mashed potato as a paste to keep the roll together. Smear the rolled rabbit with whole grain mustard.

Grease a sheet of kitchen foil with a little vegetable oil and scatter it with thyme leaves and sliced garlic. Place the rolled rabbit on the foil and fold over the foil into the shape of a Christmas cracker. Life the ends of the &#39;cracker&#39; to use as handles.

Heat just enough water in a shallow pan to cover the foil parcel. Poach the rolled rabbit in water for 6 to 8 minutes. Set aside to rest and cool.

Carefully unwrap the rabbit parcel. Heat vegetable oil in a pan on a medium heat and carefully brown the rolled rabbit, turning to ensure it is cooked all round. This should take about 5 minutes.

To make the cream sauce, sweat the shallot in a pan with vegetable oil until soft. Add the white wine and boil until almost all is reduced. Add the chicken stock and reduce by half followed by the cream and mustard- keep warm.

Place the sliced leek in a pan with the butter and enough water to cover the base of the pan and come halfway up the leeks. Add salt and pepper and bring to the boil before turning down the heat and covering the pan.

Once the water has evaporated- this takes about 10 minutes- turn up the heat again and finish the leeks in the melted butter for two to three minutes. Season to taste.

Slice the rabbit loins to serve- great with mash potato and lashings of the mustard sauce!

Make this ragù bianco the day before you plan to eat it – it becomes softer and more delicious.

Rabbit ragu

500 gm rigatoni

pecorino

60 ml (¼ cup) olive oil

1½ onions, finely diced

celery stalks, finely diced

carrot,

gm pancetta, diced

gm anchovy fillets, finely chopped

garlic

pork shoulder

gm chicken thigh

rabbit (see note), jointed

tomato paste

120 ml white wine

ml milk

Heat a large casserole or large over medium heat, add vegetables and half the oil and let the soffritto sizzle a little and begin to steam (5 minutes). Reduce heat to low and cook, stirring regularly, until you are left with a sweet, rich paste (1 hour). Transfer to a bowl.

Meanwhile, blend the pancetta, anchovy and garlic to a paste in a food processor.

Add remaining oil to the casserole with pancetta paste and stir over medium-high heat until colour darkens and mixture is fragrant (8-10 minutes). Add pork, chicken and rabbit, reduce heat to medium and cook, breaking up mince with a wooden spoon. The rabbit will bash around getting in the way; just let it be. Add tomato paste, and stir until caramelised (4-5 minutes), then add wine and cook until evaporated (8-10 minutes). Return soffritto to the casserole, season to taste, cover and simmer over low heat, stirring occasionally until ragù is well flavoured and rabbit can be pulled from the bone (1½ hours). Stir in milk, cook for a final 10 minutes, then season to taste.

Remove rabbit from sauce and cool briefly. Shred meat with your hands, discarding bones. Add to ragù and keep warm.

Cook pasta in a large saucepan of boiling salted water until al dente (10-12 minutes). Drain, reserving pasta water, then add drained pasta to ragù, loosening with a little pasta water if necessary. Serve pasta sprinkled with pecorino if you're feeling southern or Reggiano if you're in a northern vibe.

An island off Napoli’s great bay is Ischia. Wild rabbits thrived there once and some still do for a while, before the clever Ischitani sack them, whipping them into old terra-cotta pots, flattering their dry, scant flesh into rosemaried silk.

Coniglio all’ Ischitana

rabbit, cleaned, its liver reserved

fine sea salt

cracked pepper

tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and chopped

rosemary

dry white wine

red wine vinegar

basil leaves

Epicurious

Cut the rabbit into 8 pieces. Rinse and dry on absorbent paper towels. In a large terra-cotta or enameled cast-iron casserole over a lively flame, heat the olive oil and sauté the rabbit—cook only those pieces at a time that will fit without touching—browning the pieces well on all sides. Sprinkle on the sea salt and generous grindings of pepper. Remove the rabbit to a holding plate.

Add the garlic to the pan and permit it to soften a minute or two, taking care not to let it color. Add the tomatoes, the rosemary, and the wine to the casserole, bringing the mixture to a gentle simmer. Return the rabbit to the casserole, cover it with a slightly skewed lid, and, over a low flame, braise the rabbit for 1 hour.

Mash the liver with the vinegar and add to the casserole, blending it well into the sauce. Continue to braise for an additional 10 minutes.

Remove from the heat, stir in the basil leaves, and present the rabbit, in its casserole, warm or at room temperature. Should you wish to precede it with pasta, follow the instructions for its presentation on page 71.

Variant on a few other rabbit / crock pot recipes I've tried. It makes a hearty one-pot meal for two people. I always like to leave the vegetables nice and chunky. You could try a little less liquid and therefore less flour to thicken, however I found this works well and the additional liquid plays well with the vegetables during cooking.

Crock Pot Rabbit Stew

black pepper

tomatoes

red wine

water

100 g button mushrooms, sliced

g shortcut bacon, sliced

carrots,

onions,

celery,

oregano

flour

Grind pepper over the rabbit and place in the crock pot.

Combine all other ingredients EXCEPT FLOUR in a large bowl, mix well and pour over the rabbit.

Cover and cook on low for 6 hours for a small rabbit, or up to 8 hours for a large rabbit. Actually cook for half an hour less as below.

Thirty minutes before ready blend flour with 1/2 cup of water until it is a smooth paste, add to the pot and stir well to thicken and continue cooking covered for a further 30 minutes.

Give it a good stir and allow to rest 10-15 minutes before serving.

At this point the rabbit should be so tender that you can tear pieces off with a fork to serve rather than cut. Just scoop it all out onto a plate.

You'll end up with bones in the dish so eat much like you would a fish dish being careful for bones. Serve along with a nice crusty roll to soak up the juices.

I made this to take to work, and it turned out very good. Only changes were that I used cranberry juice instead of wine, and 2 rabbits that I poached and de-boned. Thanks for the keeper.

If you are using wild cottontails, I highly recommend you brine your rabbits before frying. A simple brine of 1/4 cup kosher salt to 4 cups water will do -- the rabbit is going to get plenty of seasoning later. Submerge your bunny in this brine about 8 hours. This process keeps them moist. Domesticated rabbits don't really need this, but if you want to brine them, do so for no more than 4 hours.

Buttermilk Fried Rabbit

cottontails,

buttermilk

paprika

garlic powder

cayenne, (or to taste)

salt

Mix the buttermilk with the all the spices except the salt and flour. Coat the rabbit with the mixture and set in a covered container overnight, or at least 4 hours.

When you are ready to fry, pour the oil into a large pan -- a big cast iron frying pan is ideal -- to a depth of about an inch. The general idea is you want the oil to come halfway up the side of the rabbit. Set the heat to medium-high.

Meanwhile, take the rabbit out of the buttermilk and let it drain in a colander. Don't shake off the buttermilk or anything, just leave it there.

Let the oil heat until it is about 325°F; this is the point where a sprinkle of flour will immediately sizzle. When the oil is hot, pour the flour and salt into a plastic bag and shake to combine. Put a few pieces of rabbit into the bag and shake to get it coated in flour.

Set the coated rabbit pieces in one layer in the hot oil so they don't touch. Fry for about 8 to 12 minutes. Fry gently -- you want a steady sizzle. Turn the rabbit pieces and fry for another 10 minutes or so, until they are golden brown. The forelegs will come out first, followed by the loin, and the hind legs will come out last. You will probably need to fry in batches, so just leave the uncooked rabbit pieces in the colander until you are ready to flour them up and fry them. Don't let floured pieces sit.

When the rabbit is gready, rest them on a rack set over a paper towel to drain away any excess oil. If you are cooking in batches, set this in a warm oven.

This is the best fried rabbit recipe ever. Have made this dozens of times and it is a crowd pleaser for sure!

Made it this morning for brunch for my family and a family friend and his son.  Fried rabbit, white gravy, biscuits bacon and scrambled eggs.  It was delicious!  Everyone loved it.  Not one piece left over.  Use a wild game rabbit my 12 year old and his friend got last night.  Soaked it all night and got up this morning and soaked it in the buttermilk. Brought back fond memories of my childhood meals with my parents and family.  Thank you for the great recipe.

This was awesome!! I used my domesticated rabbit, cut serving down for two people. 2 legs, 2 "wings". Brined overnight then in the morning switched to the buttermilk and soaked for 9 hours. I used peanut oil to fry in. It was so tender and delicious served with German red cabbage and mashed potatoes :)

I cooked my rabbit in a slow cooker then fried. I actually fried the rabbit once then floured them again and refried them for a few minutes. This made them crispy.  Yum ?. I’ll be saving this recipe

I've had that happen too. Am trying again today with Hank's recommendation 4 hour brine.

My wife and 2 boys have been raising pastured meat rabbits the last few months on our property in Ohio. They eat a gluten free diet. We had our first rabbit harvest recently. I was concerned with trying this recipe due to the lower burn point of GF flours. I used Pamela's All Purpose flour, reduced the fry time to 5 minutes each side, and then put the pieces on an open rack over kitchen paper in our fan forced oven for a further 5 minutes to cook through. OM goodness, new family favourite...after the Coniglio Bianco of course ?
Thanks Hank!!

This is a great rabbit recipe. I use it for squirrels as well. They can be a bit tougher than rabbit so I slowly cook them covered with a slight sizzle to cook them longer without burning the batter. My mom taught me this after years of trying to get my fried chicken as tender as hers I finally asked and she told me this little tip. I remembered right away how long I waited as she slowly sizzled all that chicken under a lid. Takes some of us awhile to get it but I am so glad I finally asked her. Thanks again for a great recipe and now I will attempt to get mine as perfectly brown as yours.

There are three distinct things going on with this recipe, and you don't need to do all of them to enjoy this dish. For example, I really like the slow-simmered rabbit like this, but you could cook it another way and it would still be nice. You can also sub in chicken or turkey or pheasant or quail. And you can certainly use store-bough gnocchi or pasta if you don't want to make it by hand. If you do want to make this dish as written, it's a weekend type meal if you do it all at once. But you can work in stages.  You can salt down the rabbit, rinse it, dry it and keep in the fridge up to a week ahead. Or you can go through with cooking it, pull the meat from the bones and have that stored in the fridge for up to a week. You can make the gnocchi up to a month or two before and freeze them. And you can blanch the fiddleheads (or other green thing) up to a day or two ahead and they will still be good.

Rabbit with Morels and Nettle-Ricotta Gnocchi

kosher salt ((about

ricotta cheese

parmesan

nutmeg

garlic cloves, (sliced thin)

fiddleheads, (fava beans, fresh peas or asparagus)

Salt and black pepper

Lemon juice ((optional))

Toss the rabbit with the salt so all the pieces are well coated. Set aside in the fridge for 3 hours, while you make the gnocchi and such.

Boil the nettles, parsley or spinach is a large pot of salty water: Boil nettles and spinach 2 minutes, parsley only 1 minute. Plunge into a big bowl of ice water, drain and squeeze to remove excess water. You want the greens to be damp, though.  While you have the water boiling, boil the fiddleheads or whatever spring vegetable you're using: Boil fiddleheads 3 minutes, favas, peas or asparagus 2 minutes. Shock in the ice water, pat dry and set aside for now. Turn the heat off the water.

Chop the nettles, then put them in a food processor with the salt, the egg and half the ricotta cheese. Blitz this for about 30 seconds to 1 minute. You want the fibers of the nettles to be well broken down. Put the contents of the food processor into a large bowl and add the rest of the ricotta, the parmesan cheese and the nutmeg. Stir in the flour bit by bit until you have a loose dough that you can just barely roll into a log. If you are not familiar with making gnocchi, you will need more than 1 cup. Put a towel over the dough as you make the gnocchi.

Cut off 1/4 of the dough and roll it into a log about 1/2 inch thick on a work surface that you've dusted with flour. Cut off little pillows from the log. Carefully pick up each pillow -- this is a gnoccho -- and roll it off the tines of a fork held upside down to give it little ridges; you can skip this step if you are very new at gnocchi. Repeat with the rest of the dough. Set the finished gnocchi in the fridge for now.

When the rabbit has brined for 3 hours, rinse it off and pat it dry. Find a medium pot that will just barely fit the rabbit and submerge the pieces in the broth. Add the sprig of thyme. If the broth doesn't cover the rabbit, add a little water. Cover the pot and simmer the rabbit until it starts to fall off the bone, about 90 minutes. When the rabbit is ready, pick the meat off the bones and coat in the walnut oil. Set aside.

To finish the dish, get the blanching water hot again and keep it at a simmer. Put the morels in a large saute pan and set the heat to high. Soon the morels will steam and sizzle and give up their water. When they do, salt them. When most of the water is gone, add the walnut oil and saute the morels until they start to brown on the edges, about 3 to 6 minutes. Add the rabbit and the garlic -- and now's the time to start boiling your gnocchi. When the gnocchi go into the boiling water, add the fiddleheads to the pan with the morels. Saute just to get everything hot.

When the gnocchi are ready, add them to the pan with everything else, toss to combine and add salt and black pepper to taste. Add the lemon juice if you want and serve at once.

Jugged hare, or venison, or duck or whatever, is a dish for a special occasion. It takes time to make and must be done precisely. Your reward? A dish with a 500-year pedigree that turns the lowly jackrabbit into kingly fare.

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Top Tags

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